Saturday, September 19, 2009 MUMBAI: She is about the size of a cat. With a height of just 1ft 11 in (58 cm), Jyoti Amge is dwarfed even by an one year old toddler (which may be over 75 cm (2.5 ft) tall and weigh over 10 kg (22 pounds), on average), but this girl is 15 years old.The Indian Book of Records registered her as the world's smallest girl. Jyoti's condition is one of the most common types of genetic dwarfism called achondroplasia, in which the fibroblast growth factor receptor gene 3 (FGFR3) is impaired, impeding the normal cartilage formation.Jyoti is now fully grown and weighs only 11 lb (5 kg), but she seems to be happy with her size, because of the fame it brought her. "I am proud of being small. I love the attention I get. I'm just the same as other people. I eat like you, dream like you. I don't feel any different," she told Sunday Mirror. Jyoti attends the local high school, in Nagpur, Maharashtra (central India), where she has her own specially made miniature desk. Her parents were unaware of their daughter's condition until some time after her birth. "When Joyti was born she seemed quite normal. We came to know about her disorder when she was five. Jyoti is small, yet cute, and we love her very much," Jyoti's mother, Ranjanam 45, told a newspaper. Jyoti is like any other teenager: her favorite activities are listening to pop music, watching DVDs and wearing fashionable dresses, and like any Indian girl, her big dream is to become a Bollywood actress. "I would love to work in a big city like Mumbai, act in films and travel to London and America," said Jyoti. Of course, because of her minute size, Jyoti sleeps in a tiny bed and uses special plates and cutlery, as ordinary-sized ones are too large; the girl wears clothes and jewelry specially made for her. Her plans have been partially achieved: she has just recorded an album with her favorite Indian bhangra/rap star, Mika Singh. 'I can't separate myself from her even for a single day. I love her very much. She makes me proud. Lots of gurus come to see and bless her. They pray for her happiness and long life,' Jyoti's father, Kishanji Amge, 52, told the daily.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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